


The Dead Don't Talk

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Gen, Murder, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 20:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13489497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	The Dead Don't Talk

There was a reason I became a medical examiner.

Very few living people to deal with, and the rest all dead. 

GREAT for someone with massive social anxiety.

Pair that with my science brain and medical examiner was the perfect profession for me.

Except when I was forced to interact with the living in large numbers. One on one was getting better. Groups? Not so much. Also testifying in court sucked, but normally only one person was talking at a time so I could handle it.

Spencer was the only one who seemed to truly understand. No one else was mean about it, they just didn’t get it, so whenever the BAU needed my help, they used Spencer as the liaison. “Hi, Y/N. It’s Spencer.”

“Hey. How’re things?”

“A little crazy. We actually needed your help. Are you in your office?”

“Headed there now. Should be there in about 10 minutes. You have a case?”

“A big one,” Spencer sighed. “We’ll meet you there in a few.”

As a medical examiner, a large part of my work involved liaising with law enforcement and working with “victims,” but sometimes I’d do a routine autopsy, study the cause of death and conduct a little research on a particular disease or ailment, examine the body of person who died accidentally - it wasn’t all just law enforcement work.

That being said, the minute I stepped into the office I knew it was going to be a hectic day. “We have an autopsy for a Mr. Joseph Golwin who died after a battle with Alzheimer’s,” Ms. Winnicke, my assistant said. “We also have a body of a woman coming in from the DC Metro Police. The report they faxed over claims that she hit her head after accidentally falling down the stairs, but the husband was shady according to the officers on site and they want her C.O.D. looked into.”

“Oh lovely.” Already I could feel the jitteriness coming on. “And the BAU is apparently on their way in because they have a case.”

“The whole team?” She asked.

I took a deep breath. “That’s what it sounded like.”

“Oh nooooooooo.” She knew how much I hated being the center of attention, especially in the confines of such a small space. 

Mr. Golwin was the most routine and his funeral had already been conducted, his body donated to science in the wake of his passing, so he was going to have to wait until later.

“The circumstances look hinky.” I spoke to Ms. Winnicke without looking up from the photos of the ‘accident scene.’

“You think murder?”

“It’s a definite possibility. There’s blood on the walls in a way I wouldn’t expect from an accidental fall. Her head has a number of wounds that seem inconsistent with the husband’s account of how she fell, and there’s a mark on her ankle that makes no sense in context with the fall.”

Ms. Winnicke wished me luck as I started on the autopsy, but it was less than 15 minutes later that I was interrupted by the BAU. The entire team made their way into my office having come directly from the crime scene, and behind them were medical professionals with five dead bodies in tow. “Oh my god. What the hell?”

“We have five teenagers,” Hotch said, already getting down to business. “They were found about 30 miles outside the city in a warehouse all hanging from rope. Each one of the five has one other additional injury as well.”

Each member of the team pitched in, giving me more pieces of information than I knew what to do with. My heart started racing. Oh god, not good. Really not good. I could feel my palms started to sweat and I began to space out, the voices turning into a garbled mess where before each had been crisp and clear. 

“Y/N?” Spencer asked.

He knew about Y/N’s struggles with anxiety; it was something he struggled with himself, but he’d never seen how truly overwhelmed she could be. 

“What’s wrong?” Derek inquired.

JJ immediately knew what was wrong, walking over to grab her hand and guide her around the room. Walking or ‘exercising’ of any kind did a lot for helping quell an anxiety attack. “Y/N, it’s okay.”

“She has anxiety problems,” Spencer replied, searching Y/N’s eyes for signs of anxiety falling away. “Her assistant said she has two other autopsies today, one of which is on a time crunch, and then we all came in here and started rambling at the same time while presenting her with five other bodies, all of which are children. I would say that’s a little overwhelming.”

Emily winced as she realized what they’d done. They’d all known about Y/N’s anxiety problems, but she guess they underestimated the severity. “Y/N, just breathe.”

Hotch and Rossi sat on the sidelines, not wanting to overwhelm her any more by crowding her. As she and JJ turned around and walked back toward the group, Spencer gently grasped her hand and massage her palm with her fingers. “Y/N, take a deep breath.”

“…”

“Take a deep breath.”

“Y/N, take a deep breath.”

Spencer was standing before me and I could finally focus again. “Y/N, we’re sorry, we didn’t mean to come at you all at once.”

“It’s okay,” I said shakily, stepping backward and holding onto Spencer’s hand as I sat down in the chair next to my examination table.

Derek looked on worriedly. “I’m okay, Agent Morgan. I swear.”

“You don’t look okay,” he laughed. “And would you please call me, Derek.”

“Sorry, it’s a default thing. I’m okay, just…please, one at a time.”

As requested, they continued softly and individually. Each of the kids had been hung, but that wasn’t the cause of death for all of them - only one. Another had his arms cut. Two had blunt forced trauma - one to the head area and the other to the midsection, and the last was believed to be choked. “We need you to tell us everything you can find about all five deaths so we can figure out where to start with this.”

“Will do,” I replied. “I’m not a profiler, but it seems like it was personal.”

“Definitely,” JJ said. “But why such different causes of death and the link of the hanging?”

I scanned over the bodies and remembered what it was like to be in school. I’d had bruises. The scars on my own arm had faded with time, but the remnants were still there. “Bullying?”

“What?” Hotch asked. “You think they were bullied?”

“No. I think they were the bullies. If someone is taking revenge, their own loved one could’ve hung themselves, hence the link between all of them. The other injuries could be injuries that love one sustained, or in the case of this young man,” I said, pointing to the deep cuts on his arms, “A failed suicide attempt of the loved one.”

Immediately, everyone was silenced. “That’s…a good theory,” Spencer said. “Please tell us anything you can.”

“I will.”

When they turned to leave, they all said goodbye one by one. Spencer was the last one out. “You sure you’re okay?” He asked. “I know how that feels. It’s not fun.”

“No, it definitely isn’t,” I said, inhaling deeply. “But yea…I think I’m good. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. With all the bodies today, I just need to stick to a plan. I’ll get back to you ASAP.”

“Okay, good.” Again, he turned to leave but stopped in the doorway. “You can just call me with what you have so you don’t have to get asked a million questions again.”

“Thanks, Spencer. I appreciate it.”

Once they were all gone, I took a few deep, cleansing breaths and set a schedule for myself so I could everything I needed to get done, done. It was time to get to work.


End file.
